Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing resources—such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics—over the internet. Instead of owning and maintaining physical hardware, organizations and developers can rent access to these resources from cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
There are three main service models in cloud computing:
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Provides virtualized hardware resources (e.g., Amazon EC2).
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): Offers a development environment without managing the infrastructure (e.g., Heroku, Google App Engine).
- SaaS (Software as a Service): Software is hosted and maintained by a third party (e.g., Gmail, Dropbox).
Benefits of cloud computing include:
- Scalability: Quickly scale resources up or down based on demand.
- Cost-efficiency: Pay only for what you use.
- Availability: Access services from anywhere, at any time.
- Disaster Recovery: Backup and restore options are built-in and automated.
Cloud computing also supports innovation by reducing time to market and enabling continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD). Developers can build, test, and release applications faster than ever before.
For those new to cloud computing, starting with free-tier services from major providers is a great way to experiment. Whether you’re a developer, IT admin, or entrepreneur, cloud computing skills are in high demand across industries.
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